How to Calculate Your Heart Rate in an Activity

Whether your personal fitness goals involve dropping 20 pounds or dropping a few minutes from your 10k time, a heart-rate monitor can be an indispensable fitness tool. Used correctly, a heart-rate monitor can give an athlete the "inside story" about performance improvements, in a factual, data-based format that defies the vagaries of less objective measures.

Instructions

  1. Before Your Workout

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      Get a heart rate monitor. It's true, you can manually monitor your heart rate by counting the pulse on the side of your neck or at the wrist while watching a stopwatch. Unfortunately, this method is difficult to do safely and accurately while in the midst of vigorous activity, and, depending on your surroundings during exercise, could be downright dangerous.

    • 2

      Read the manual. The step-by-step usage instructions for a heart-rate monitor can be complicated, and they depend upon your monitor's specific brand and model. Once you understand the monitor's basic operation and can manage the device without carrying the manual along on your runs, you'll be ready to maximize the benefits of its data.

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      Calculate your maximum heart rate. Outside of a hospital-conducted stress test, the best way to do this is to subtract your age from 225. Therefore, if you're 30 years old, your maximum permissible heart rate is 195 beats per minute (BPM).

    • 4

      Calculate your aerobic zone. This figure will be between 60 percent and 90 percent of your maximum heart rate, depending on your goals. Most purpose-built training schedules are designed to incorporate different workout intensities, and your heart-rate monitor helps you keep your workout within those predetermined zones to best meet your goals.

    During Your Workout

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      Start the monitor the moment you begin your workout, and don't stop it until you're completely finished. Don't turn it off during any interim rest periods.

    • 6

      Check your heart rate every five minutes or so during your workout. It's tempting to look at it more often, but less-frequent observations give more useful data, as heart rate can vary by up to 15 beats per minute. Some heart-rate monitors have a function that gives average BPM over the course of a workout session, which can be useful for endurance athletes.

    • 7

      Balance the numbers with how you feel. Don't be a slave to the numbers displayed your new heart-rate monitor. For safety, pay attention to the signals you're receiving from your body, even if they seem to argue with the monitor data. If you disregard your body's feedback and treat the monitor as a speedometer, you could put yourself in the hospital.